Microsoft pledge excluding primary competitors

Yesterday's media briefing by Microsoft on its pledge to release
interoperability information for flagship products contained little
actual news. Over the years
Microsoft has made multiple similar pledges
and they at times proved to be detrimental rather than beneficial for
interoperability. Examining the terms of the Microsoft's latest action
shows no major change of policy.

The announcement confirmed that Microsoft was planning to use its
software patent portfolio against interoperating products by requiring a patent license for all commercial activity. This is consistent with
its previous attempts at allowing competition only where it provides no
actual challenge to its monopolies.

Microsoft's patent licences are incompatible with Free Software, the
primary competitor to Microsoft in many markets. Almost all major
competitors have made significant investments in Free Software and built
substantial parts of their business on the principles of freedom of
competition and innovation.

Free Software's freedoms to use, study, share and improve software
without additional restrictions are key to the success and utility of
Free Software in both commercial and non-commercial ICT
infrastructure. They are also the basis for many of today's working
examples of interoperability and competition.

Microsoft's announcement contains little more than a statement that they
will support interoperability only under terms that disallow fair
competition. Their press statements may indicate otherwise, but terms
of release highlight this explicitly. There has never been a shortage
of promises by Microsoft, but results are what must be considered rather
than words.

Regrettably, the lack of substance in the pledge and the timing suggest
that Microsoft is primarily hoping for positive media coverage and not an
examination of the substance of their limited interoperability release.

If Microsoft truly means to facilitate interoperability and fair access
they should spare delegates the BRM, retract MS-OOXML from ISO and
converge this work into the global effort for the Open Document Format,
the existing Open Standard at ISO for office documents.

They should also release full interoperability information for all their
products without restrictions of any kind.

About the Free Software Foundation Europe:

The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit
non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and
involved in many global activities. Access to software determines
participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in
the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the
furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study,
modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues,
securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people
Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues
of the FSFE.